Letters: North County, Feb. 5, 2013

We owe a livable planet to our grandchildren

After a year like 2012 where, in spite of some extreme weather disasters, each costing over $1 billion in damages, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report documenting 2012 as the hottest ever on record for the U.S. and a total absence of the topic of climate change in the election cycle, it was indeed refreshing to hear President Obama make a commitment to finally deal with this.

Comprehensive legislation is unlikely, so Obama could and will use the tools at his disposal — regulating CO2 emissions via the Environmental Protection Agency and government incentives for clean energy and energy-efficiency improvements. Such moves would certainly reduce emissions and hasten the transition to renewable energy.

But there is also a more market-based solution our legislators should find easy to get behind that could mitigate the need for more regulations: a revenue-neutral carbon tax that puts a steadily rising fee on each ton of carbon emitted, while returning the money to households as offsets, or using the revenue to offset debt or some combination.

This respects free-market principles and is much simpler to monitor and administer than California’s cap-and-trade scenario, which I consider “second best.”

We owe a livable planet to our grandchildren. ...

Peg Mitchell

San Marcos

Gun control hypocrisy

The Department of Homeland Security has issued a request for a proposal for 7,000 NATO-style “personal defense weapons,” which are really “assault weapons,” as opposed to the semi-automatic rifles the administration refers to, like the AR-15 type rifle.

The RFP asks for 7,000 “select-fire firearms” because they are suitable for personal defense use in close quarters. These weapons can be both semi-automatic, like an AR-15, or fully automatic.

Civilians are prohibited from having fully automatic weapons. At the same time, they are pushing for a national weapons registry and for the banning of almost every type of rifle, shotgun and pistol made today.

If the administration desires fully automatic weapons for “use in close quarters,” yet pushes for abolishing guns used by law-abiding people for hunting and personal protection, isn’t that the height of hypocrisy, as well as a violation of our Second Amendment rights?

And, finally, why are we shipping F-16 jet fighters and top-of-the-line tanks to the Muslim Brotherhood in Eygpt, a group closely aligned with various terrorist organizations that are destroying democracy and people’s rights around the world?

Richard Taylor

Poway

The president’s war against citizens

For the first four years of President Obama’s presidency, one million babies have died each year from abortion. If their policies kill babies, this is about 3,000 per day that die. Not even close to those killed every year with guns by deranged criminals.

What does this make our president, with four years and four million babies dead? Dead babies are more important than the economy and jobs. It shows where the president’s priorities are.

Then there’s Operation Fast and Furious and more dead. Then Benghazi, again, more dead.

This president is in a war against the America citizens. Where will it stop?

Buddie Gran

Escondido

Troika’s just desserts

I had to chuckle at Diane Fencl’s letter (“SANDAG disses Oceanside,” Jan. 27) about her frustration with the “dis” by the San Diego Association of Governments on appointments to significant committees for representatives of the city of Oceanside.

Even if she had not stated she was a newer resident, I would have known. She obviously is not aware that the right-wing troika of Jack Feller, Gary Felien and Jerry Kern (FFK) decided to upend the process of appointments to SANDAG.

Each city’s mayor makes the appointments with concurrence of council. However, FFK decided they’d take power that away. Their bully-boy Kern lost big in the mayor’s race by an embarrassing amount of votes; Mayor Wood soundly slapped Kern by winning 54 percent of the vote.

So what did FFK do? They stripped Oceanside’s Mayor Wood of this power and gave it to themselves. Did they really think the other mayors in the region would support their jackboot, oppressive tactic and appoint any of their choices to significant SANDAG committees?

I’m still laughing at this pitiful miscalculation by FKK, but also gloomy because Oceanside has to try harder now to get anything from SANDAG. How foolish also to try to subvert the vote of the people who support Mayor Wood.

Mandy Barre

Oceanside

Obama, a friend of Israel?

If President Obama is a friend of Israel, he has a funny way of showing it.

This week, he is planning to send to our “dear friends,” Egypt’s Islamic Brotherhood, who have sworn to obliterate Israel, nothing less than a group of F-16 sophisticated fighter planes. If one ponders why the Islamic Brotherhood needs them, you will come up with the answer that they will be over Israel in a very short time.

By his actions, Mr. Obama does not give whit about Israel.

On the home front, I hope that we will be able to weather the next four years and survive this man whose legacy is that he will go down as the worst president this country has ever had.

Phil Epstein

Carlsbad

Abortion bias

David Leingang (“Bias seeped through,” Jan. 28) accuses Elizabeth Aguilera of bias in her article about efforts to overturn Roe v. Wade because, in referring to people opposed to abortion, she used the term “anti-abortion” instead of “pro-life,” which, he says, is their preferred term.

I wonder if he also senses bias when he sees those on the other side of the abortion issue described as “pro-abortion” instead of “pro-choice,” which is their preferred term.

David Dick

San Marcos

GOP foot-shooting continues

Is getting Americans back to work government’s most pressing immediate problem? Paul Ryan doesn’t think so.

Ryan is being groomed for a 2016 presidential run. What is his current number one priority? It’s co-sponsoring House Resolution 23, which proposes that from conception on, a potential human being should have all the rights of a person under the law. Its purpose is to do an end-run around Roe v. Wade.

This is exactly what has been proposed by several “egg as person” state initiatives. They have been resoundingly defeated in every state where they have been proposed: comparable bills initiated in state legislatures have died there. In California, the initiative didn’t even get enough signatures to get it on the ballot.

Even if Ryan manages to flog HR 23 through the House, it’ll die in the Senate, his time wasted and our money squandered on a GOP/fundamentalist dream.

John Terrell

Fallbrook

Comprende?

Margie Nolan is happy to say “adios” to all the whining multimillionaires (“Adios,” Feb. 1).

But has Margie figured out who is going to make up for the all of the lost revenue paid by these “whiners”? The top 1 percent of California wage-earners pay over 40 percent of the state income taxes (utsd.us/11dNzEe). ...

Comprende?

Denis Lougeay

Encinitas

The immigration issue no one will touch

This whole debate about immigration reform has become a joke. There is one issue that must be addressed, but no one will touch it, and that is, getting rid of the law that allows illegal immigrants to sneak into this country and give birth so that their offspring automatically become U.S. citizens.

It is not only Mexico, but China and many other countries whose citizens come here for this very purpose. Until the law is changed, women will always be surreptitiously crossing our borders.